Banebringer
by Cyric
Summary: Seeking retribution and redemption...the end of a long journey
1. Banebringer

Banebringer

_"Forsaking the light,  
Feeding on strife,  
I see a sword bathed in blood"_

Sun. In the past months I've learned to hate it. Day after day the same torment. Waking up in half sanded tent, hiding my face in a deep white cape and going sea-ill while sitting on the back of a stinking camel.

The endless desert looked the same no matter in which direction I viewed. I've past countless sand dunes only to find thousand more in front of me. The sand was everywhere. In my boots, on my skin, in the water, in the air... I felt it even in my dreams. But the worst of all was the sun and the hellish heat, both driving me to insanity whenever I touched the glowing hilt of my sword or mused drink the boiling-hot water. 

The only escape was the coldness of night but then I prayed to whoever who might listen that I would not freeze to dead.

But none of those obstacles could broke my will and prevent my desired destiny.

With each step I was coming closer to a fulfilled dream, a legend, a tool to change history and to gain eternal power.

Years of searching and studying tombs older than the whole mankind, countless journeys through whole Faerun to nearly all greater libraries and temples of _Oghma_, the god of knowledge...visiting legendary places and cities like Nimbral, Candelkeep, Waterdeep, Zhentil Keep, Halruaa, Sossal and hundreds others…even traveled beyond this plane to a city ruled by the infamous Lady of Pain - Sigil...

All that to find a small, half-decayed crumpled piece of parchment with a scrawled drawing of a map and only one readable word – _Banebringer_.

_Banebringer_ - a word which has occupied my mind for dozens of years, a word burned in the deeps of my soul and making me shiver whenever I heard or spoke it...a name of a weapon...no..._More_ - a name for a destiny...my destiny.

A sword, forged in the unholy flames of Abyss by one from the first fallen angels known as _The Scarred One_, quenched in the blood of a Higher god and sharpen on the horned skull of a Demon prince...this weapon is able to slay _every living, dead, undead or unliving being_ no matter of its power and to transfer its essential force to the veins of its slayer...

Yes! This weapon will make me more than a god. It will make me timeless and eternal. Those pathetic excuses for gods will creep in panic and even _Ao_ will bow to me in fear.

Never again enslaved by the _Balance_. To stand forever above it or better...to compose it new. Ha! What an irony. To compose what decomposed me and my entire life. Never...never again waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare which was my past. To hear the screams of my children and wife, to see them murdered by one of those fanatic upholders of Balance - _a Harper_. Never will I forget his words, his words when he cut the throat of my daughter...

_"It is a matter of balance..."_

To hell with the balance! Those fanatics will be first. Only one day...tomorrow at this time I will reach the ruined temple and the word Balance will be no more.

The sun is sinking down. I already feel a cold breeze. I'm _old_...older than a human should live. Sometimes I wish I could live so long like the elves do...but then I think I could never follow my path so systematically or worse...to forget it.

I'm thirsty...I've drinked up my last water jack three days ago. It doesn't matter now. With Banebringer in my hand I will never be thirsty again...They will all bow...they will all beg for mercy...why am I lying on the sand?...it's so dark...

I don't feel the thirst anymore...it is cold and I fill the hilt of Banebringer in my hand...it is so quiet...


	2. Banebringer, part II

Banebringer, part II

_"Seize this weary shell,  
this tedious life of bane,  
before it is too late."_

_Darkness._ Please not more darkness.  
The Light has forsaken me...again. Was I dreaming or was this an illusion created by someone who _knew_? Someone who _feared_?

First I thought that this was the end. I fell. I felt my powers left me. The shadows came and a sharp blade of madness has been jabbed into my brain.  
_Death._ I awaited it with grace. But somehow I knew even the end of my life could not free my soul and bring me salvation. Too much has happen, too many sins weighed on me. It was not judged to me to rest in peace.  
Images flowed through my mind. Memories of which I hoped to be long forgotten and lost. A whirlpool of pain, loneliness and hate overwhelmed me.

Sometimes the shadows of our own imagination can drive us to madness…but sometimes the shadows can become _real_.

I opened my eyes. Immediately I was stroked by dryness, sand, cold and unbelievable thirst. Was this the mortuary punishment for my deeds? Worse…This was still my life.  
It was night. So, finally this difficult journey across the desert took its price. I was half-frozen and near dead from the exhaustion. A night in a desert can be sometimes cold like a winter day in Icewind Dale.

Carefully I tried to move. To my surprise I succeeded. From somewhere behind me I heard a well-known spin of my camel. So at least not everything went wrong today.

Slowly I stood up. My knees ached like hell. I was afraid that this old body was going to break. _Water._ How could I get the unholy blade when I could hardly move and every moment became weaker and more insane? Could I allow such a triviality like thirst and hunger to defeat me now, so close to immortality?

The camel roared again. I knew what to do. It would not be the first time I ate camel flesh or drank blood to survive. Actually camel meat tastes quite the same as coarse beef…with a little imagination naturally.

I draw my short sword. Some time ago it was a fine blade with some magic enchantments. Now the edge was full of teeth and it was beginning to rust a little.  
Slowly and very carefully I approached the camel. It was standing a few steps in front of me and just staring nowhere. I wonder if she knew what will come. I took down the tackle and my bags from her back. From one sack I took up a clay bowl and placed it on the ground.  
A moment later one quick cut through neck ended the camel's life. She dashed in the sand with oily roaring and spit blood. I was waiting a few seconds until she stopped moving and I placed carefully the clay bowl under the bleeding wound. The warm fluid filled the basin.  
If you are dying from the thirst your senses are blunted a bit and because of that you can drink almost everything without gagging it at once. I must admit the blood tasted not _that_ bad…it was a little sweet with a small metallic smack.

After the satisfaction of the greatest need I began to cut the camel's flesh to smaller pieces and eat them mindless. I could not make fire to roast the meat. I used up the last magic _Wand of Fire_ days ago.

Unwilling my thoughts wandered again to the sword. More than fifteen miles divided us but already I could feel his power. It was like a calling. I could hear it from last night. First I thought it was just a hallucination but now I changed my mind. It was strong and there was also something else, something what didn't belong to the Banebringer's wave of might.

_The Guardians. _

There was only little known about them. Legends, sometimes only scrappy mentions of their names but every time spoken with fear.  
Three damned souls bounded to the sword for eternity. It is said that when the _Scarred One_ left this plane of existence to seek a new destiny, the First gods unable to destroy the blade tried to curse it but their spell could not break the sword's unholy essence. So to serve _the Balance_ those fools decided to hide and to protect it. One from them found a way to manipulate the pure energy around it and he bound the spirits of three chosen sentinels to the field. But something mismatched. The blade's power corrupted the souls and changed them. They no longer served the gods but only the sword. What happened then is not known. The sword travelled from place to place for whole eons and in the end it was forgotten.  
The Guardians stayed with the blade however.Their names chasing fear even today.

_Strife, Bloodthirst and Agony…_

I had enough of the raw camel meat. I looked on the remains with pity. Now I have to continue on my own feet. I began to wrap myself to a blanket. It will be a long night…


	3. Banebringer, part III

Banebringer, part III

_„It twists my thoughts  
and warps my mind,  
the confusion is all around.  
I do not know who to trust,  
this chaos is in my mind"_

A great scholar once said: „_The Balance is like the still surface of a lake and the peacefull middle of a huricane."_

Even though it sounds poetic, this man was a fool. To describe the Balance with a word like „_peacefull_" is pure ignorance and blindness.

The truth is that this whole philosophy about the cooexistence of law and chaos is a _myth_ and I go even further and call it a _lie_. To see the truth we only need to understand the basic rule: _blood for blood_. Do you ask how it works?

Imagine a mirror. Imagine yourself standing in front of it. What do you see if you look at it? You see yourself looking from the other side. Now imagine a knife and cut your face with it. What did your reflection do? The _same_ naturally... That is how the Balance works too. You can never do something what the reflection doesn't do too. The nature of the mirror will not allow it. In the real world it means: no matter how powerful you are, there is always someone equal to you, and no matter what you do either for _Light_ or _Darkness_ it will have the same consequences for both sides because Chaos and Order must stay even with their power.

What would a great king say if he knew that he is going to be overthrown by Harpers because he rules too rightful? What would a paladin say if he knew that for every demon he slayed, somewhere else an innocent being had to die? Probably nothing…paladins are idiots and so are all others who believe this is right.

I shall not be enslaved by blindness like them.

---

Walking through the desert by foot…staring on the same hot sand for hours…drinking spoiled camel blood…life could not be worse.

With all my strength I tried to concentrate on my goal and not to allow my mind to slip into delirium. West…always going west. Those last miles I was mastering only with the power of my will.

I was marching almost the whole day with pauses only long enough to catch for breath and to have a nip of the heinous spoiled blood. My stomach felt like rotted garbage. Only one thing was holding me alive now: the strengthening waves of power radiated from the blade and the confidence that I was going the right way.

After passing one bigger sand dune I stiffed in awe and shock. My heart began to tremble like hell and for some moments I've lost my breath. The ruined temple. Only a mile or two away. Was it really there? Wasn't it just an illusion?

The wasted walls stacked up from sand like gravestones. Once a magnificent building was now hardly to recognize as something more than a simple cave.

I haven't recovered from the first shock and there was at once another. Not farther than ten steps from me a shadow began to materialize. This time I knew it was no illusion. The aura of energy it radiated was too real. So near by the sword it couldn't be anything other than The First Guardian…_Strife_.

Slowly the shadow was forming into a human form until it was whole. A tall, bearded man dressed in bright red robe stood before me. His lifeless eyes glared at me with…_amusement_.

I knew this being could destroy and kill me thousand times with a single thought and I knew one more thing: he was mute. From a very painful death could save me only the right choice of words.

"Greetings Strife, incarnation of deception, you who are denying the existence of hail sense," I said trying to impress The Guardian with my direct approach. Though I didn't know what reaction I should await from a being like him he really surprised me when he just smiled. A strange feeling overcame me, like I would loosing the control over my body.

"And greetings to you seeker," suddenly words came from my mount. I understood. The Guardian was using my voice to answer.

"It is a pleasure to see that you've made it. As I remember yesterday it didn't look good for you old man," he continued and paused to give me time for breathing. If he tried to surprise me with the confession that he has observed me he failed. I wasn't foolish to think my march wouldn't be noticed.

"Yes, I had better days. Surely you also know what I'm here for?" As there could be any other reason.

"Naturally. I don't have to read your mind to figure it out. You know that you can not succeed. But at any rate I must confess you've woken my curiosity old man and thrust me that's the only reason you've made it till here," he continued with my voice.

"Oh, I assume, now I should ask why? Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not really interested." Could not help me but to answer a bit arrogant. To my surprise he didn't kill me on the spot but again used my voice and laughed aloud.

"That is exactly what I mean! No matter how hopeless this situation is, you're still confessed that you will succeed. I was reading your mind and watched your approach for some time but I can't understand why and how do you manage to continue. You're weak, old, thirsty but even now you don't give up though you know this meeting can have only one end." The Guardian stepped closer to me and I overcame the strong need to step back."So…will you tell me your secret or shell I guess?"

"Maybe I'm mad. Were you thinking about that option too Guardian?"

"That was my first thought but no…I think that's not the case. Indeed I even think that you are the sanest person I've ever met, seeker." Now he really surprised me. To describe me like sane…this was…funny.

"The same question once again old man: Why do you think you will succeed?" This time my voice sounded a bit threading.

"Maybe I shall win. Maybe it is so foreseen…" Wrong answer… His mood changed at once. The border was overstepped.

"You dare to play games with me seeker? You think you know me? My power is beyond your imagination mortal. I've destroyed armies of skilled warriors, killed some of the most powerful demons ever walked the planes and even prevented gods from reaching the blade. There exist no power in multiverse which could avoid me from guarding the destroyer and I'm just the first from three, and trust me mortal the others aren't so talkative like I am."

His eyes began to glow with unholy light. An invisible power lifted me above the ground and squeezed my chest until my ribs cracked.

"I ask you one more time and you should hope your answer will satisfy me," he said with my stolen voice. I knew now I had only one chance.

The essence of madness is delusion, and the essence of deception…is _betrayal_. Therefore my answer was:

"Because…because you will help me Strife."

The Guardian smiled again. The ways of _chaos and lie_ are unforeseeable.


End file.
